Crying foul at foreign footballers

After signing four foreign footballers, Shanghai Shenhua Football Club is chasing after French striker Mathieu Manset to sign a half-year contract worth $1.21 million.

The deal would have Manset playing alongside ex-Chelsea man Nicolas Anelka - the most high-profile foreign player ever to join the Chinese league - Australian striker Joel Griffiths, Brazilian central defender Moisés Moura Pinheiro and Bosnian midfielder Mario Bozic.

It won't stop there. The team can sign up to six foreign players, and it is determined to add another mysterious "superstar" to the list before the new season of Chinese Super League (CSL) kicks off in March.

Although it remains unclear whether these superstars will find their feet in the country where foreign players have struggled to take their team to a new level of competitiveness, Shenhua has set up a perfect marketing scheme to attract media attention and open up business opportunities.

The French striker Anelka made his debut in Shanghai not on the football field or at a press conference, but at the launch party of a new online-game developed by the Nasdaq-listed The9 Limited, which is also owned by Shenhua's major shareholder, Zhu Jun.

Zhu captured the public's attention by keeping Anelka's schedule for that day a secret, leaving the press and fans to find out later that Anelka's first stop in Shanghai was a pure commercial event.

Although using players' fame to make a quick buck is inevitable (every football club in the world does it), the fans are far more concerned about how these superstars can help local teams improve.

After Shenhua threw millions of US dollars at foreign footballers, it aroused the ire of some of the team's fans, who wondered if it was worthwhile to spend money on players who are no longer in their prime.

Chinese football teams have a long history of signing foreign footballers, but most of the players come just for the money and leave as soon as their contracts expire. Because they don't come to develop their skills or realize their athletic ambitions, foreign footballers tend to have conflicts with local coaches and players.

The rising cost of tickets is also rooted in this issue. The price of season tickets has more than doubled over the past year to 800 yuan ($127) per person.

It is not fair for fans to bear the burden of the costly new contracts. Even if loyal fans are willing to accept the higher prices, they will be disappointed if the combination of foreign superstars and Chinese footballers fails to bring them splendid matches.

Last but not least, Shenhua is unlikely to achieve its goal of revolutionizing the football business in China as the club has just come out of the country's largest ever football bribery scandal last year.

To boost fan confidence in the CSL, nurturing young local talent and reforming the business would be a much better way for teams such as Shenhua to spend their money.